Fifteen Month Old Black Man Gunned Down By Police, Community Unhappy

Los Angeles, CA - A fifteen month-old black man was shot and killed by members of the Los Angeles Police Department on a city playground yesterday, sparking cries of excessive force from people in the community.

According to police spokesman Cpl. Ronald Chapman, the officers involved were responding to a report of a disturbance in Exposition Park when they oberved Terrell Jefferson, 1, stumbling around a picnic table, shouting incoherently.

"The officers, surmising Jefferson's erratic behavior to be the result of a drug induced delirium, drew their weapons and ordered the man to halt and put his hands on his head in conformance with department protocol," stated Chapman.

"Then, only after Jefferson failed to comply with their commands and reached for what they thought was a weapon did they resort to the application of a lethal resolution."

Many community members find Chapman's account less than convincing however, citing the victim's age and the fact he was shot thirty-two times to support their argument of excessive force.

"Terrell was just a baby. That's how baby's walk and talk," said James Cobb, a friend of the Jefferson familly, "And as for them saying he was reaching for a gun or whatever, that's bull. He was probably just putting his hand down his pants. He liked to do that."

Although the LAPD acknowledges the logic behind the opinions of those dissenting members of the public, they claim that it doesn't necessarily preclude the necessity of using lethal force, referencing "several incidents in which infants have slain officers in the past", including one case last year involving a two year-old who held up a convenience store in Orange County.